# wet tobacco / how to dry ???



## pdq_wizzard (Mar 15, 2014)

how do I dry out my tobacco if my RH is ~69% in my house? I live in the Sac valley of Ca. RH is ~ 98% out side this time of year. (driving in fog sucks)


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## tmoran (Mar 25, 2014)

Try drying it under a lamp for a short while. It usually dries pretty quick, so don't forget it under there.


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## Tobias Lutz (Feb 18, 2013)

This is the set-up I have in my office at work. There is something similar in my study at home.










30-60 minutes seems to be my preference.


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## pdq_wizzard (Mar 15, 2014)

Thanks guys, I will give this a try. (need to stop by walmart for a $5 lamp) :car:


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## JohnnyFlake (May 31, 2006)

The best way to dry tobacco is naturally. Spread out a couple of paper towels on a table, desk, etc. and then simply spread out the tobacco on top of the paper towels, in room temperature. It doesn't take very long, two or three hours, depending how damp it is!


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## pdq_wizzard (Mar 15, 2014)

the problem is my house is at ~ 70% RH and ~ 63 deg F, it will never dry during the winter here. but summer time when RH is ~ 30% or less then yes spread out for an hour or so will work fine.


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## Branzig (Jul 14, 2013)

pdq_wizzard said:


> the problem is my house is at ~ 70% RH and ~ 63 deg F, it will never dry during the winter here. but summer time when RH is ~ 30% or less then yes spread out for an hour or so will work fine.


My brother in-law who lives in the tropical part of Maui has to bake his pipe tobacco to lower its overall RH. If it's 70% there, it may be the route you need to take as well.


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## Tony78 (Oct 20, 2012)

Get a mason jar and a boveda pack to store your tobacco. Boveda packs are two way so a pack at a rated RH level lower than your tobacco will pull moisture gradually from the tobacco into the boveda pack. They have 32%, 49%, 54% and 62% RH packs available.


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## Branzig (Jul 14, 2013)

Tony78 said:


> They have 32%, 49%, 54% and 62% RH packs available.


May just be my preference, but to my knowledge even 32% is still way too high to store pipe tobacco.


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## MarkC (Jul 4, 2009)

Branzig said:


> May just be my preference, but to my knowledge even 32% is still way too high to store pipe tobacco.


Certainly too high to smoke.


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## Tony78 (Oct 20, 2012)

Everything I've read says pipe tobacco should be in the 12-14% range mositure by weight for storage and somewhere in the 10-12% range for smoking. Below 10% and it's brittle and crumbles to dust and above 14-15% its sticky. I've read 60-65% RH for most pipe tobacco will get you in the 12-14% moisture by weight range. And 55% RH gets you in that 10% moisture by weight range. 

I've actually been messing with this a bit to rehydrate some Dunhill EMP that's was too dry. I've put the brittle too dry for me EMP in a mason jar with a small 62%RH Boveda pack for the last 10 days or so. I haven't put one of the digital hygrometer probes in the jar yet but to my fingers the tobacco feels about right for packing. Its springy when I pinch it. It doesn't clump and it doesn't crumble. 

$0.02


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## HardHeaded (Nov 6, 2013)

Has anyone ever really measured the rh of pipe tobacco? I'm sure there is some variance from brand to brand but it would be interesting to see what it is if you put it straight in a jar with a calibrated hygro.


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## Emperor Zurg (May 6, 2013)

HardHeaded said:


> Has anyone ever really measured the rh of pipe tobacco? I'm sure there is some variance from brand to brand but it would be interesting to see what it is if you put it straight in a jar with a calibrated hygro.


Trouble is, if you have tobacco with a humectant in it (like pg or sorbitol ) it's going to steal humidity from the environment in the jar, resulting in a lower r/h reading on the hygro while maintaining a higher % moisture by weight. The humectant treated tobacco acts like a dessicant, rendering % r/h readings largely irrelevant .


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## Emperor Zurg (May 6, 2013)

JohnnyFlake said:


> The best way to dry tobacco is naturally. Spread out a couple of paper towels on a table, desk, etc. and then simply spread out the tobacco on top of the paper towels, in room temperature. It doesn't take very long, two or three hours, depending how damp it is!


I've found this way does result in the most flavorful smoke. Heating the tobacco to dry it does seem to rob it of something. However, if it's muggy out a pg soaked aromatic will NEVER dry.

What about taking a Sterilite container and putting a makeshift dessicant in it like a bed of rice? You can dry out rice by baking at 250° for a couple hours then sealing it in a mason jar to cool off. It's rechargeable indefinitely too. Just repeat the baking process. You could put your pipe's worth of tobacco in there on a napkin or foil tray for an hour and that should suck the moisture out of it. I've thought about this but haven't tried it yet. I just don't know if the pipe full wouldn't instantly resoak itself once you started smoking it in a muggy environment.


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## JohnnyFlake (May 31, 2006)

Emperor Zurg said:


> I've found this way does result in the most flavorful smoke. Heating the tobacco to dry it does seem to rob it of something. However, if it's muggy out a pg soaked aromatic will NEVER dry.
> 
> What about taking a Sterilite container and putting a makeshift dessicant in it like a bed of rice? You can dry out rice by baking at 250° for a couple hours then sealing it in a mason jar to cool off. It's rechargeable indefinitely too. Just repeat the baking process. You could put your pipe's worth of tobacco in there on a napkin or foil tray for an hour and that should suck the moisture out of it. I've thought about this but haven't tried it yet. I just don't know if the pipe full wouldn't instantly resoak itself once you started smoking it in a muggy environment.


I would not use any system that will suck/force the moisture from the tobacco. I fear that doing so, will also suck out some of the tobaccos natural oils and that is where the flavor is!

Natural is best. If your natural surroundings are too humid to dry out the tobacco, you can place the tobacco on a large plate and put it in a refrigerator. The cold won't hurt it and a refrigerator is a natural dehydrator. The tobacco will slowly dry up slowly. Of course you need to keep an eye on it.

As far as re humidifying tobacco. simply grab a pipe full, place it on a dessert plate and let it set for an hour and it will pick up the natural humidity in your environment. Obviously, this requires some planning, but that can become a natural thing for you to do.


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## Emperor Zurg (May 6, 2013)

JohnnyFlake said:


> I would not use any system that will suck/force the moisture from the tobacco. I fear that doing so, will also suck out some of the tobaccos natural oils and that is where the flavor is!
> 
> Natural is best. If your natural surroundings are too humid to dry out the tobacco, you can place the tobacco on a large plate and put it in a refrigerator. The cold won't hurt it and a refrigerator is a natural dehydrator. The tobacco will slowly dry up slowly. Of course you need to keep an eye on it.
> .


Putting tobacco in a desiccant box isn't forcing the moisture out of it. The desiccant is pulling moisture out of the air, allowing the moisture in the tobacco to evaporate like you want it to. You're doing the same thing with the refrigerator; you're putting the tobacco in an artifical, cool, dry environment to allow the moisture in the weed to evaporate off. Either way has got to be better than heating the tobacco to dry it out. I'd just be concerned that the fridge method would make my tobacco taste like a refrigerator and my refrigerator goods taste like tobacco. Dunno about you but cottage cheese with a touch of latakia sounds pretty gross.


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## pdq_wizzard (Mar 15, 2014)

Ok, used a desk lamp and a 40w bulb.

house temp ~65 F light about 6" from plate tobacco was ready to smoke after about 25min, I put a thermometer on the plate and it stayed at ~ 70F so I would say that there is little to no chance of this process drying out the oils in the tobacco.

works great!! thanks for the tip


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## haebar (Jun 9, 2012)

If you have a food dehydrator, you could experiment with that. Obviously you would want to check on it frequently until you get the procedure down. Then on the other hand, it would probably skunk up your dehydrator for food use.


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## pmr1010 (Jul 13, 2013)

I just smoke it to dry it out. Works pretty well.


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## KungFumeta (Aug 7, 2014)

When the 10-16% figures are quoted for pipe tobacco, they refer to the actual water content by mass of the baccy itself, not to the relative humidity it should be stored at.

Mr. Pease did a few experiments back in the day and found that baccy stored at 60% RH would settle at a water content by mass of about 10%, and 67% would equate to around 16%, or somewhere along those lines.

I can GUARANTEE that tobacco stored with a 65% boveda pack is definately NOT too wet to smoke and probably even a little on the dryer side since I am currently running exactly such an experiment with some rubbed out Black XX rope and some Ascanian mixture. They've been in the ziplock baggie with the pack over two weeks now and they are certainly not wet to the touch.

Also, since almost nobody lives in an environment where there is 12% humidity, how would tobacco dry out by just leaving it out to air a few hours? It should, in any case, get wetter! That's the reason tobacco dries to a crisp if left out for too long even in places where the ambient humidity never dips below 50-55%. Do the test, measure the ambient humidity of your house with whatever hygro you have in your humi and you'll see that baccy dries even if the ambient RH is close to 60%.

For it to not dry at all the ambient RH would need to be above 70%.


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## Hermit (Aug 5, 2008)

I also use a desk lamp.


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## Sid.Stavros (Apr 4, 2015)

JohnnyFlake said:


> The best way to dry tobacco is naturally. Spread out a couple of paper towels on a table, desk, etc. and then simply spread out the tobacco on top of the paper towels, in room temperature. It doesn't take very long, two or three hours, depending how damp it is!


I agree with this. If my house had a lot of moisture i would use the lamp but nor hair dryer,house radiator,close to the fireplace etc ways.


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## bojangle (Dec 17, 2014)

I let it air-dry on a piece of newspaper or paper-towel. I've also put it in a sealed jar with small sponges and this worked VERY well.


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## MaduroLover (Jun 8, 2013)

I live in AZ and can just air dry 99% of the time.

However, one suggestion that works really well, and hasn't been mentioned, is to use the microwave.

Approximately 15 seconds will give you a huge jump on drying a really wet tobacco (think Sam Gawith) 

Plus ... the smell is amazing!


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## deathmetal (Jul 21, 2015)

pdq_wizzard said:


> how do I dry out my tobacco if my RH is ~69% in my house?


Turn on the air conditioner. If you don't have one in a climate that humid, say goodbye to your computer.


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